The Sage's Change
by Alaina Rayne
Summary: What if the Sage never left? What if he kept watch over the ninja world? Seeing the world start to crumble the Sage sees humanities last hope in the soul of a young girl named Ani. The only question is will Ani be up to the task that was never supposed to be hers to bare?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi I'm Alaina Rayne, I write things!**

**I love reviews, but if you write just to be mean, then I'm going to have to block you. No hard feelings!**

**I hope ya'll enjoy.**

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History wrote down that the Sage of Six Paths was immensely powerful, it also was written down his many accomplishments. Later history focused on his two sons who fought and fought till they bathed the land in their own blood. History captured the life of the forming Kages and continued recording the life of all of the villages and the death.

What History never recorded however was; what happened to the Sage? His immense power was too great to just allow him to die off. As he felt his consciousness drifting from him he had one thought cross his mind. Who was going to take care of the precious land he fought so hard to protect? He could see his oldest son eyes and how they held resentment and hatred toward his younger brother. He couldn't leave knowing what was about to happen. He slipped his life force in to the earth to watch over and protect the land.

Now he was in the present and the land was hurting. Much more than it had ever hurt before. The Sage was growing angry he was tempted to kill everyone regardless of guilt or innocence. Then he saw it. Humanities last hope. She was the embodiment of what he wanted in the world he protected so long ago.

She got stabbed all the way through by Zetsu, instead of letting her go however, she held on to him falling on to the earth. Grunting through the pain she gripped his hair refusing to release him.

"What are you doing girl?" He growled trying to jerk away.

"I-I want to look into my killers eyes." She wheezed in pain.

His golden eyes looked at her in confusion. "I'm a clone stupid girl. You'll get no satisfaction in doing anything to me."

"I know." She said looking at him.

Her look was neither hateful nor in fear. It was sadness, pity. The Sage didn't understand this girl.

"I don't understand woman, now either kill me or die." He growled jerking his arm around causing her to let out a sharp scream.

"I'm not going to kill you." She answered in a soft voice. "It must be so lonely. So lonely to have a consciousness, but not be able to control it, to feel the pain of thousands going through your body, I'm so sorry for you." She cried.

Zetsu just stared at the woman in confusion but did nothing more. Then she reached her bloodied hands around him and held him in a motherly embrace. Zetsu was frozen. Who was this woman and what was wrong with her. She coughed violently and shuddered against him. Zetsu could feel her muscles spasm around his arm. Blood gushed out leaving a weird feeling within the clone. A dead and empty feeling. He held back on to the woman that was lying beneath him. She took in a small breath before giving him a smile.

"I don't hate you." She cried.

She fell limp and Zetsu released her feeling a great pain in his chest. What was this pain? It hurt he wish he could change what he had done and just about cried for the woman who didn't even know him. He slaughtered most if not all of her comrades and she forgave him. She didn't hold any resentment towards him. He ran into a tree so hard he cracked his skull letting blood run down his face. He ran into it again finally killing himself.

Sage seeing this amazing act knew his only hope for mankind was dying. She wasn't dead just yet, and if he could help it her friends would have another chance at life. He melded his life force in to the young girl's body and used what was left of her chakra to use an old forbidden jutsu that died with him. He turned time back, back as far as he could take it without killing himself and her. Now all she had to do was save the world, how hard could that be?

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**~Alaina Rayne~**


	2. Chapter 2

**Boom another chapter! :D**

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Ani woke up with a mini heart attack looking around seeing she was still in her bedroom breathing hard. She wasn't on a battle field she didn't just die. She sighed and brought her heart rate down to a normal speed as she studied her room. What an odd dream. Seeing it was about time for her to be getting up anyways she went ahead and took a long shower and got ready for the day. She blew dry her strawberry blonde hair and brushed it out. She kept it cut at a modest shoulder length pulling half of it up in a ponytail. She pulled on her black pants, long sleeved mesh shirt and black short sleeved shirt over that. She didn't see a need to stand out too much and she didn't really have any money to buy anything fancy. Her older brother was a little bit of a spend thrift, but she'd be damned if she was going to be like that.

Speaking of her brother she could still hear him snoring the day away back in his room. She contemplated waking him up then decided against it. She didn't feel like wrestling with him today. That dream was so vivid she could swear she felt the arm still inside of her. She cringed at the memory touching her torso. She skipped breakfast that her sister was making in the kitchen and hopped out the window to go to the field. She flipped and landed on her feet in a graceful motion and walked on the dirt path head down cast trying to think about what the dream could have meant.

"Oi Copper head." A voice called out to her wrapping an arm around her shoulders in an instant.

Ani paused and looked over at her wannabe cool friend. "Shido." She greeted.

He grinned. "Come on smile babe."

Ani rolled her eyes and offered a small smile then shoved the perv off of her.

"So how was your night?" He grinned.

Ani shrugged. "I had a weird dream." She stated.

"Ooo." He said in interest. "Do tell."

Ani told him about her nightmare and tried her best to shake off the feeling again. Shido nodded giving her a weird look every so often. Once she finished they both were silent for a moment. Shido sighed and rubbed the back of his long spikey brunette hair.

"Are you sure you aren't having these dreams because it's almost the anniversary of Samu's death. Because I had a similar dream only I was just fighting against something as hard as I could." He commented.

Ani shrugged. "It's a possibility, want to go to the Yamanaka flower shop and get something for his grave?" She asked.

"Sure I'll buy this time." He commented walking in that general direction.

"Hi I'll be right with you in a moment." Ino said somewhere in the back.

"Take your time." Shido waved off.

Ani smirked, there was a time when he would have been back there in a heartbeat helping her in hopes of scoring a date. He got tired of chasing after girls that didn't really care about him and had been looking for something more in life. Ani liked seeing him grow up like this it was refreshing in many ways. She looked around at the blooming flowers and saw the sunflowers that were the same shade of yellow as Samu's wild curly blonde hair. Shido picked the same thing he always did, which was a couple of pink roses. He would always tease Samu about his girly pink eyes and one day when Samu got injured he bought them for him as a gag present and teased him about being in love with him. Ani remembered laughing hard that day because of Samu's face. Even Aoba-sensei got a pretty big kick out of it.

"Ok I'm ready for you guys." Ino said with a pretty smile coming up to the desk. "Oh hey Ani-chan, Shido-kun, I didn't realize it was you two or I would have been out here sooner." She grinned.

Shido rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, we all know you were just painting your nails back there." He teased.

She huffed at him. "I'll have you know I was working." She pouted.

Ani gave a small smile as Shido paid for the flowers. "Will you be at Auntie's tonight to celebrate Sakura-chan's Chunin status?" She asked.

Ino nodded and gave her a thumbs up. "I wouldn't miss it." She grinned.

Ani smiled back. "Doryu-niisan and Mezu-neesan should be coming too if work doesn't hold them up tonight."

Ino smirked and leaned closer to Ani. "You think I might have a shot with Doryu-kun tonight?" She grinned.

Ani mentally rolled her eyes, but wasn't about to shoot her down. "Who knows?" She shrugged.

As they left the shop Shido rolled his eyes. "Come off it Ani-chan, you know as well as I do she doesn't have a shot with your Onii-san."

Ani shrugged. "Anyone has a chance so why not her?"

"Well she's self centered for one thing." He remarked.

Ani shook her head. "I'm sure that's what she comes off as, but she's a much kinder person than you're making her out to be." She defended.

"You're only saying that because she's your only cousin's best friend." He remarked.

Ani rolled her eyes there was no winning with him most days. They made it to the grave site and placed their flowers down in memory of Samu. Ani still blamed herself for getting him killed. If she had just been faster, if she wasn't frozen due to the fear of their enemy, maybe he would still be here. Shido tossed his arm on her shoulders and leaned on her to the point she just about fell over.

"I'm so tired Ani-chan sweep me off my feet like you normally do babe." He smirked.

Ani laughed and moved to where he fell flat on his face. Shido spat out the mouth full of dirt and gave her an irritated look. She giggled at his expression as he turned his head to Samu's grave.

"Do you see how mean she is to me now Samu? What kind of crap is that?" Shido complained.

"He'd probably tell you to man up and get over it." Ani said a sad smile on her lips.

"Then I'd tell him that's funny coming from a guy with pink eyes." He smirked.

"Then you two would get in a fight again." Ani said in mock exasperation.

"Finally you would ruin all the fun." Shido teased jumping up to his feet.

Ani rolled her eyes.

"Do that one more time they might roll out of your head." Shido teased.

Ani laughed at his teasing then took one more look at Samu's grave. "You ready to go train?" She asked.

"Yeah, might as well you've been slacking off lately." He sighed.

Ani punched his arm with a small smile on her lips. "Say's the guy who shows up ten minutes late."

"I have a morning routine and it has to be done correctly or everything gets ruined." He defended.

"Right, that's why Aoba-sensei and I caught you red handed sleeping in." She said with a raised eye brow.

He shrugged. "Like I said it's a part of the routine."

They made it to their training field and got down in a stance. Ani batted away the flutters of nervousness that was in the pit of her stomach. Fighting really wasn't her thing, but fighting with Shido was good practice for her. She braced herself as Shido came at her in a whirlwind of taijutsu moves. She skillfully dodged and returned a few moves of her own. She heard the subtle chirping of electricity coming at her. She altered her attack pattern and back flipped out of danger for a moment and went through hand seals blowing out a small ball of wind hitting Shido square in the chest. He got blown backwards before he changed into a log. Ani jumped before he could grab her ankles and drag her under the earth again. He threw kunai at her in response which she knocked away with her own kunai. She then went through hand motions to activate the seal that she left behind.

Shido noticed it too late as chakra chains came out and pinned him down. Her ablilty wasn't as good as Doryu-niisan's, because her chakra control was messy. Mezu-neesan tried helping her with it, but Ani was just going to except there was no helping her with it. Shido got out of it and threw senbons at her. She landed on the ground and flipped in a series of different moves to dodge them. One skimmed by her head and it was at that moment she realized that they were charged with his lightening chakra.

_"You will be mankind's only hope."_

A voice said in her head causing her to clutch at her temples.

"Ani! Watchout!" Shido yelled.

She looked up just in time to roll out of the way. However his chakra skimmed her head again. She then saw everything. The lead up to the fourth Shinobi War. Her comrades were falling all around her like flies. She threw herself out in danger to protect a kid. Just a beginning Chunin from another village. He reminded her of Samu and she was more than willing to die in order to save him.

"Ani! Ani!" Shido yelled.

Ani fought with her mind before everything went blank and she collapsed to the ground.

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**~Alaina Rayne~**


	3. Chapter 3

***insert something to say here***

**Enjoy!**

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It was so dark she didn't know where she was. Am I dead?

"Child." A voice said.

She picked herself up and walked over to where the voice was. She walked through a few tunnels before she came to a door. She opened it and winced at the bright light flooding through it. It was very peaceful looking. She thought once she saw past the bright light. It was a grassy field overlooking the ocean. She remembered seeing a photo of this somewhere in her house, but she couldn't remember.

"Come in child." The aged voice said.

She walked in almost in a trance when she saw the back of the older man calling out to her. He had a staff that was resting against his shoulder as he smoked a pipe. Hesitantly she walked over to him and stood awkwardly.

That's when he faced her with odd eyes that she had only seen one time, when Samu died. He had spiky black hair that jutted in almost every direction. He gave her a carefree smile that relaxed her slightly before he motioned to the seat next to him.

"Will you join me?" He asked.

She blushed and nodded sitting down on the other stump beside his. He studied her for a moment before he sighed and looked off into the distance.

"This is a beautiful place you created. It reminds me of the land near all of the whirlpools." He commented.

"I-I wouldn't know." She mumbled. "W-where exactly am I?" She asked still very tense.

He blinked at her. "Well your mind of course. I was waiting here for a while for you to finally come here." He pouted crossing his arms in mock irritation betraying how old he really was.

Ani just blushed in shame. "Sorry." She squeaked.

He waved it off. "I was just messing with you kid." He grinned. "So I'm sure you must have a ton of questions for me." He continued. "So lets get the introductions out of the way. I'm Hagoromo, the Sage of Six Paths." He said holding out his hand.

Ani blinked before snorting and rolling her eyes. "Now I know I'm dreaming." She muttered to herself.

He frowned at her. "How rude, I am the Sage."

"And I'm the first Hokage." She retorted.

He stood and got a hold of his staff hitting it against the ground. A small earthquake happened making Ani jump before the scene changed and she was standing on a glass plate. Confused she looked up and saw herself dieing with some thing's arm stuck through her chest. It was her dream from earlier that morning.

"I watched people kill each other like this for years." Hagoromo said coming up from behind her. "I was about ready to use what was left of my powers to wipe out humanity all together. I couldn't stand seeing brothers and sisters fighting against each other anymore. Then I saw you. I saw how kind you were even in death, and I knew you would be able to help me." He said turning his ringed purple gaze back at Ani. "But now I'm seeing you're just a girl who likes to mock me." He pouted turning away in mock depression.

Ani stood there in amazement not sure how to processes all of this information. "T-this is a very elaborate dream." She said softly.

The Sage looked like he was about to fall over in disbelief before he walked up to her fake tears in his eyes. "Even after all of this you still think I'm a dream?" He asked like a small child.

"It's a little hard to believe. Just because you do a few magic tricks in my head doesn't mean you're real." Ani commented then watched as the scene changed back to the grassy field.

The Sage paused then lit up in excitement at the sudden source of an idea. "Ok I got it. You'll get a mission tomorrow that will lead you to Suna for the next couple of days. You're friend Shido is going to complain about going on it to the point that Tsunade hands over a different mission. Don't let your friend do that. Go to Suna, you might be able to stop the capture of the young Kazekage."

Ani just raised an eye brow at him. "If that doesn't happen?"

"It will." He said smugly. "If on the off chance it doesn't, then you have nothing to lose. You already think of this as a dream." He answered with a smirk that made Ani blush. "Do we have a deal?" He asked holding out his hand.

Ani thought about it for a moment before shaking his hand. "Deal." She answered.

She was floating again covered in a never ending darkness. It was so cold there, then she felt herself returning to consciousness. Where ever she was it was considerably loud. There were a ton of people talking and she couldn't make out who it was. It was just a jumble of words being spout out everywhere. Her dark green eyes finally fluttered open and she could see why there was a ton of noise in this one room. Her Onii-san and Onee-san were talking with Sakura-chan and Aunt Mebuki and Uncle Kizashi. Shido and Ino-chan were off in their own little world arguing till she finally sat up in bed rubbing her eyes.

"Ani-chan!" Mezu-neesan said almost tackling her.

"Nee-san." Ani answered back trying hard to get air back into her lungs.

"You gave us a little bit of a scare there tiny." Doryu-niisan teased.

"Sorry." Ani answered back in a small voice looking around finally realizing she was in a hospital bed. "What am I doing here?"

Shido rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, Ani, you wouldn't wake up so I didn't know what else to do." He said his brown eyes reflecting concern.

"He did the right thing." Nee-san said flicking her long red hair back behind her.

"Good thing we get a discount because we have Sakura-chan for a cousin." Doryu-niisan grinned blinking big green eyes at his little cousin.

Sakura-chan rolled her eyes. "Just this once, because we're family and it wasn't that serious." She scolded.

"Sakura that's no way to treat your older cousin." Aunt Mebuki berated.

"Yeah." Nii-san agreed.

Aunt Mebuki then turned her sharp green gaze to him making him cower down some. "It's better if you were seen not heard boy."

Doryu-niisan scratched the back of his scarlet hair and gave a nervous smile. "Right you are Auntie."

"Well played kid." Uncle Kizashi whispered.

Ino-chan finally made her way over to Ani and sat down on the edge of her bed. "So how are you feeling?" She asked.

Ani shrugged. "About like I did this morning." She responded. "Am I allowed to leave?"

Sakura-chan came over and did a quick scan using her chakra and letting it wash over Ani's head. She stopped after a moment and nodded her head. "Yes you should be fine. Though I'm really not sure why you passed out in the first place. It was almost like a post-concussion, but you've never had a concussion before so I don't know how this happened so suddenly." She commented obviously confused. "But then again most people who undergo post-concussion's don't actually pass out." She mumbled.

"Oi forehead quit trying to use that overly huge head of yours, obviously your cousin is going to be just fine." Ino-chan remarked.

Sakura-chan glared at her dangerously. "I'm trying to make sure this won't affect her in the future pig."

Before the vicious insults could be spread around and make the noisy room any louder, Ani put her hands up in defense and gave them all an honestly sweet smile. "I'm fine really, so I wouldn't be opposed to leaving and finally celebrating Sakura-chan's special day." Ani said in hast before a fight could break out.

Sakura-chan grinned and scratched the back of her short pink hair. "Ani-chan you're too thoughtful sometimes."

Aunt Mebuki shook her head. "Just like her father."

Ani hadn't ever gone a day without hearing that line. She didn't know how to take it some days. It wasn't that she didn't like her father, she just never got the chance to know him. He and her mother died when she was barely two and her Aunt and Uncle adopted the lot of them turning her into a Haruno. She really had no idea about what parents are supposed to be like. The closest she came to was her siblings, but in the end it really was just a poor substitute. She gave a modest smile all the same.

Mezu-neesan signed her out while the rest of them started walking out. Because they couldn't allow Ani to leave the building without being wheeled out, Doryu-niisan used his wind chakra and sped them up and raced down the hallways. He was grinning like the goof ball he is while Ani hung on for dear life. Shido was laughing racing down the halls right next to them while Sakura-chan and Ino-chan yelled at them to slow down. Ani let a grin spread over her face as Doryu-niisan popped a wheelie and sent the two of them flying off the steps. They drifted on the dirt road in a smooth victory as Doryu-niisan pumped his fists into the air.

"You Baka!" Nee-san said storming out of the hospital and punching Nii-san across the face causing him to fall to the ground.

Shido took that moment to remove himself from her line of vision and hid slightly behind Ani. Ani looked around and saw the scene her siblings were making.

"U-um Nee-san." She said nervously.

"What?!" She snarled still in the middle of hurting Doryu-niisan who was limp and lifeless in her death grip.

"Maybe we could go home before another Haruno gets put in the hospital." Ani suggested with a small smile.

Mezu-neesan calmed down considerably and released Doryu-niisan making him fall to the ground in a half conscious state. Ani let out a sigh of relief not expecting that to work nearly as well as it had. Shido took Ani's arm and helped her up. Sakura-chan and Ino-chan finally caught up with them as they made it to Ani's side.

"Ani-chan I don't know how you do it some days." Sakura-chan sighed.

"That's funny coming from you, Sakura-chan." Shido teased.

Ani frowned at him for that.

Sakura grit her teeth and held him by the collar. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She growled.

Shido shrugged. "Nothing, oh look at that!"

"What?"

Shido then slipped out of her grip and moved away from her. "See ya tomorrow Copper Head."

"Hey get back here!" Sakura-chan yelled.

"You kids ready?" Aunt Mebuki asked coming out with Uncle Kizashi.

"Hai." They all answered.

They walked back to Sakura-chan's house, every once in a while asking Ani how she felt. Ani finally got to the point she just ignored the question and walked slightly ahead of everyone as if to prove she was fine and everyone should quit worrying about her. Ino-chan and Sakura-chan began their mindless banter that Ani tried hard to pay attention to, but found herself becoming bored with their boy talk. It wasn't that Ani wasn't into boys, but she didn't consider it as high of a priority as what they did. They entered the small house that was in the heart of the city cramming around the dinner table as Aunt Mebuki pulled out the presents and the food. Everyone seemed to be having fun. Ani smiled for her cousin laughing at some of her and Ino-chan's jokes. Once the night approached Ani and her siblings went back home.

Once they reached their home Ani paused and stared at the photo of her parents' team. Her mother was on one side her long red hair half pulled up showing her soft curly hair, her sky blue eyes that Mezu-neesan inherited were bright as she gave a confident smirk. Some guy named Dan was in the middle arms wrapped around her parents. Then last on the side was her father. Caring green eyes looked back at her through his shaggy blond hair. There was something naturally kind about his smile that she could almost see past and into his personality. He looked like someone that you couldn't lie to. She wished she had gotten to know him and her mother. She went ahead and walked back to her bedroom and got ready for bed. Hopefully she would rest peacefully this time.

"You're kind of a depressing child." A voice said.

Ani blinked waking up at the grassy area that was next to the ocean once again. She sat up and looked at the 'Sage of Six Paths' that she had seen earlier when she was in a coma induced state. His ringed eyes looked down at her teasingly as he smirked.

"So still think I'm a dream child?"

She nodded. "It's not uncommon for someone to have the same dream more than once."

He sweat dropped. "I'll wait till tomorrow when you see that I've been telling the truth." He grumbled impatiently as he plopped down in front of Ani.

Ani looked around the area once again. "What do you mean by I'm a depressing child?"

He chuckled. "I'm inside your mind I can hear some of your thoughts,… and I may have stumbled on your memories." He coughed the last part.

"My what?"

"Nothing." He grinned. "But you bare a large weight on your shoulders from your friends' death, and you feel guilty about not being able to honor your parents, because you never knew them."

Ani blinked and looked away. "I'm sorry. I try to be happy. I really do, but I miss Samu and his death brings back the reality that I don't have any parents."

"So you're just going to distance yourself from everyone?" Hagoromo questioned.

She frowned. "I don't distance myself from anyone."

"Name off three friends you have that aren't family." He ordered.

Her eye brows furrowed at him clearly irritated with him. "Shido, Aoba-sensei-."

"He's your sensei that doesn't count." Hagoromo sang smugly.

"You said name off three people that aren't family and that's what I'm doing." Ani snapped.

He held his hands up in defense and motioned for her to continue.

"And Ino." She ended.

He nodded and gave her a thoughtful look. "Let's look at these friends shall we. Shido your age and on your team, you've known him since the academy. I'll buy that one. Aoba, your sensei, an older man who is on your team, he'd be better suited being a father figure than a friend. Last Ino, a girl you would have never met had it not been for your cousin. So I only see one friend out of the group and the only way you talked to him was because you two were forced onto a team."

Ani grit her teeth. "You know what, I don't give a damn if they are my only friends. Who are you to criticize what makes me happy?"

Hagoromo cocked his head to the side. "Were you not just saying how you weren't happy?" He questioned.

Ani paused. She had said that. She shook her head and looked away from him.

He placed his hands on her shoulders giving her a warm smile. "Don't worry Ani, if everything goes according to my plan, you and your future friends will live in a world of happiness." He smiled.

Ani cocked her head to the side. "Big talk coming from a dream."

He hung his head before looking up with puppy dog eyes. "How much longer are you just going to push me off as a dream?" He questioned.

She shrugged. "The moment you become reality."

He smirked at that. "Alright I accept your challenge."

Ani arched an eye brow. "I didn't-."

"Challenge accepted Ani, challenge accepted." He smirked confidently.

She sighed feeling herself beginning to waking up.

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**~Alaina Rayne~**


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